- Phyllis Fraser
Phyllis Fraser Cerf Wagner (
April 13 ,1916 –November 25 ,2006 ) was an American actress, journalist, and children's book publisher, and the co-founder ofBeginner Books .Early life
She was born Helen Brown Nichols in
Kansas City, Missouri . Her mother was Virginia Owens, daughter of Walter and Saphrona Owens, who were of Welsh ancestry. Her two maternal aunts were Jean Owens, wife of radio actor Vinton Hayworth (uncle ofRita Hayworth ), and Lela (Owens) McMath, mother ofGinger Rogers .Not long after her birth, her mother moved to
Oklahoma City , where Fraser resided until age 16.Hollywood
At 16, she went to live with her aunt, Lela, and first cousin, Ginger, in California. There, Ginger thought up her new name and introduced her to the Hollywood scene. [Rogers, Ginger, "Ginger: My Story", HarperCollins Publishers: New York, NY (1991), page 108.] Between 1932 and 1939, Phyllis Fraser appeared in several movies, most notably "
Winds of the Wasteland " (1936) withJohn Wayne , and "Little Men " (1934).New York
In 1939, she abandoned Hollywood for New York City to pursue a career in advertising at
McCann Erickson . Soon after her arrival, she was introduced by "The New Yorker " editorHarold Ross to publishing magnate andRandom House co-founder (and future "What's My Line? " panelist)Bennett Cerf , whom she married on17 September 1940 . They had two sons,Christopher Cerf , an author and composer-lyricist who has contributed numerous songs to "Sesame Street ", andJonathan Cerf , the author of "Big Bird's Red Book" and the 1980 world champion of Othello, the board game.She wrote "The ABC and Counting Book", a children's book, and co-founded
Beginner Books , which is the Random House imprint for young children, along with Ted Geisel, more often known as Dr. Seuss, and his wife Helen Palmer Geisel.After Cerf's death on
17 August 1971 , she married the formerNew York City mayorRobert F. Wagner, Jr. on30 January 1975 . They remained married until Wagner died on12 February 1991 . She lived for the last half of the twentieth century, with both husbands, in a five-floor, townhouse at 132 East 62nd Street. 'Despite an undistinguished façade, Denning & Fourcade did the décor. “It’s cozy and grand at the same time, but not elaborately fussy.'" ["Wendy's Warren" by Max Abelson, "The New York Observer"February 12 ,2007 [http://www.observer.com/node/36711 online] retrievedSeptember 27 ,2007 ]She died in
Manhattan following a fall.Notes
External links
*imdb name | id=0292216 | name=Phyllis Fraser
*findagrave|16791874|Phyllis Fraser
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